Victory for Sujey and Violeta Pando! Judge Halts Deportation, Sets January Date to Consider Application Based on Their Marriage

Lavi Soloway: “Today Denver Immigration Judge Mimi Tsankov halted the deportation of Sujey Pando and scheduled a new hearing to consider an application based on her marriage to her U.S. citizen wife, Violeta Pando. Because today’s hearing was intended to be a final decision day on Sujey’s deportation, the judge’s action was unusual; she spent 45 minutes methodically considering the procedural posture of the case. In the end, the Judge set aside the intended purpose of the hearing, citing developments including the Attorney General’s intervention in a similar case in May (Matter of Dorman) and noted that the issues involved in this case existed in a context that was “fluid” and “in a state of flux.” The Judge referred to events that occurred as recent as yesterday as having an impact on how to proceed. Yesterday, the DHS Secretary Napolitano ordered a review of all pending deportation cases for possible closure, including those involving LGBT families.”

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There are many of us same-sex binational couples who have been separated from each other for years, forced to live split by the heart-wrenching and sometimes frightening physical, legal and political boundaries of country, never having been able to experience any joy of spending a segment of our lives living together on U.S. soil, or anywhere, because we have no country where we can live!

I am really encouraged by these latest actions. I am a man in a same-sex marriage. We were married in California, in June 2008, while we were still allowed to do so. I am hoping that DOMA will be repealed and that we can then be treated like all 'married' couples by the Federal Gov't., as well as the State of California, and that our marriage can be recognized where ever we travel, throughout the US and elsewhere around the world, just as hetero couples have always been.

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This is a pro-bono project of the law firm of Masliah & Soloway, PC. Posts on this website are offered for informational purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. The law firm of Masliah & Soloway, PC has offices in New York and Los Angeles. Our practice is limited to U.S. Immigration & Nationality Law.